(10/26/2011) MULTI-DEPARTMENTAL EFFORT FOCUSES ON INTENSIVE SUPERVISION AND SHARE INTELLIGENCE AMONG STATE AND LOCAL AGENCIES

New Haven – Mayor John DeStefano joined with Lt. Thaddeus Reddish, District Manager for Newhallville neighborhood, and Ed Kendall and Leigh Ware, Managers of New Haven’s Adult Parole office to announce a collaborative, neighborhood-based strategy developed by the City of New Haven, NHPD, Department of Corrections (which manages Parole), Court Support Services Division (which Manages Probation), and the Office of Policy and Management (OPM) to combat recidivism among individuals recently released from incarceration. The approach is based on best practices research in criminal justice, which recommends focusing intensive supervision and resources on those individuals at high risk of recidivating. Under the partnership, supervision is coordinated at the neighborhood level, so that NHPD district managers can share intelligence and coordinate with parole & probation officers.

“Gun violence in the City is largely driven by high risk individuals returning from incarceration, said Mayor DeStefano. “By creating an effective partnership between the City, the Police Department, the State, and the Probation and Parole departments we can work to reduce gun violence and provide positive choices for our reentry population. I want to thank our state partners for all their efforts in bringing this program to fruition.”

These caseloads are made up of individuals on parole and probation who are most at risk for recidivism and weapons offenses. OPM worked with probation, parole & the NHPD to identify the most at-risk individuals using evidence-based criteria (particularly gun offenses, which have a high recidivism rate). Caseloads began being put together several weeks ago, and continue to be refined using OPM’s data.

Individuals that are a part of this special caseload report to parole and probation officers in their neighborhood NHPD substations. Currently, four neighborhood substations: Newhallville, Fair Haven, the Hill, and West River are taking part in the program.

"Public safety is our priority, and our community, our families and the individual benefit when a man or woman successfully reintegrates into the community,” said Leigh Ware and Ed Kendall. “This partnership represents an opportunity to make a positive impact our community and it is for these reasons that are further enhancing our relationships with other state and local partners.”

In addition to supervision, the partnership is connecting individuals from these caseloads to resources to help them make positive choice the City’s Reentry Initiative has begun meeting with individuals that are a part of the caseloads in Newhallville to help connect them to services provided by community partners.